Little Boy Blue

119

Helen walked quickly towards the back of the store, keeping her head down. She was an odd sight for a cold autumn evening – boots and leathers on her bottom half, but only a thin black vest top above. More curious still were the scratches on her face and arms. She looked a little like she had been dragged through a hedge backwards, which of course she had.

It was cold in the refrigerated section of the supermarket and Helen didn’t linger, marching to the manager’s office at the rear and pushing inside. Peter Banyard was still unnerved from their first meeting and looked positively shocked now by her second appearance of the day.

‘Are you ok? Can I get you anything?’ he eventually said, clocking her strange appearance.

‘I’m fine, but I need to ask you another question.’

‘I haven’t got your paperwork ready yet if that’s -’

‘That’s not why I’m here. I want you to look at this picture, tell me if you recognize this man.’

Her hand was shaking slightly as she held up her phone for him. On the screen was one of the photos the press had used when they’d ‘outed’ Robert Stonehill several years earlier.

The manager stared at the photo.

‘Do you know him?’ Helen repeated more loudly.

‘Well, yes. That’s Aaron West.’

‘He works for you?’ Helen continued, insistent.

‘He’s one of our temporary workers. We take them on around Halloween, Bonfire Night and so on.’

‘Does he work the tills?’

‘Tills, shelves, wherever we need him. He does a few shifts a week – has been for a few months now.’

Just enough time for him to plan Helen’s downfall. He had lifted customers’ credit card details while working the tills, then used their details to purchase his specialist S&M gear – gear that would eventually lead the police back to her.

‘Did you check his credentials? His ID?’

‘Yes,’ Banyard replied, looking unnerved, ‘although the checks for temporary workers aren’t perhaps as rigorous as for our permanent staff.’

‘I bet they’re not,’ Helen snarled back, just about containing her anger. ‘Do you have an address for him?’

‘We should do,’ the manager replied, ‘but I’m not sure that will be necessary.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I just saw him out the back. In the locker area. I can take you th-’

But he didn’t get to finish. Helen was already gone.